Elke storie, vertel iemand onlangs op RSG het vele kante. Jou, kant, die anner ou se kant, die waarheid en ek voeg graag by: die Skepper se waar sien. In enige situasie is ieder betrokkkene se ego (ons vals-self) en ons hart, die geleier van gevoelens en emosies. So is individuele subjektiwiteit immer die monster in die mengsel.

He who pleads his cause first seems right; until another comes and questions him Pro18:17

Ons ego is soos ‘n stout kind, moet vir oorlewing altoos wen, reg wees. Om die rakker in toom te hou kos werk en nog werk. Dink aan die kinners op die speelgrond. Die een wat vir Juffrou eerste vertel wat fout gegaan het, dié voel hy of sy het gewen. Dis dikwels die boelie self wat die klikwerk doen om weg te steek dat hy of sy die sondebok is.

So kom dit dikwels dat ‘n mens maar die spit afbyt, hoe bitter ook al, en die vuurspewendes te laat wen. Want vuurwerke se fut taan metterwyl, dan lê daar net ‘n ashopie. Raak by die spel betrokke, en nie te lank of ‘n onskuldige word sonde-eter vir ander se bondeltjies frustrasies, onverwerkte woede en sommer net huidige covid-doserigheid. 

Ek herinner my dikwels aan my universiteitsvriendin wat destyds op Kerkplein netjies uit haar onderrok, waarvan die rek geskiet het, getree het en weggestap het asof dit nie met haar gebeur het nie. Ons twee het net daar besluit dat ons vorentoe lewens die les gaan onthou. As iets gebeur, en dis sleg vir jou siel, of menswees, tree uit en stap weg. Soos wat jare verloop het, het onthou hiervan, my menigmaal gered.

My achilleshiel, my albatrossie om die nek is egter dat my emosies, as gevolg van trauma tussen 17 en 21 jaar, erg hormonaal en tiener van aard is. Ek moet omtrent my wange stukkend byt en bars dikwels van woede in lelike huil uit. Dis nie lekker om so op 62 te moet veg met jou humeur nie. En dan om nie terug te praat nie, daai ene….eish.

Wat lekker is van ouer word, is dat mens leer vrede maak met jouself. Ek het iewers gelees dat hierdie meer plooie en wysheid jare is wanneer jou skaduwee, wat saam met jou deur die geboortekanaal in die lig ingedruk is, jou weer inhaal. Ons skaduwee, die dood, ons sterflikheid, haal ons omtrent nou eers in. Dit klink vreeslik, maar tog. Toe ek daaroor sit en pieker, tref die my.  Ons mensdom doen alles om die een ding wat met ons almal sal gebeur weg te leef! Pleks dat ons dit omhels, die feit dat ons almal gebore word, en almal sterf.

Ek onthou toe dit is die Keltiese geestelike, John O Donohue  se wyse woorde en lees weer sy Anam Carah en my seer en kwaad bedaar. Daar is soveel hoop en troos in die Ier se geloof en wysheid. Hy leer my dikwels dat ons hier op die ondermaanse net deurstap, terug huistoe.  Ek gaan my unieke menslikeheid en sterflikheid omarm op die reis. Kom stap saam.

“No one else has access to the world you carry around within yourself; you are its custodian and entrance. No one else can see the world the way you see it. No one else can feel your life the way you feel it. Thus it is impossible to ever compare two people because each stands on such different ground. When you compare yourself to others, you are inviting envy into your consciousness; it can be a dangerous and destructive guest.”
― John O’Donohue, Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom

Lees lekker aan sy van O’Donohue se snoere of nog beter, lees die boek. Dis sielsverrykkend.

Maar eers, luister na sy mooie  Beannacht / Blessing

For Josie, my mother

On the day when
the weight deadens
on your shoulders
and you stumble,
may the clay dance
to balance you.

And when your eyes
freeze behind
the grey window
and the ghost of loss
gets into you,
may a flock of colours,
indigo, red, green
and azure blue,
come to awaken in you
a meadow of delight.

When the canvas frays
in the currach of thought
and a stain of ocean
blackens beneath you,
may there come across the waters
a path of yellow moonlight
to bring you safely home.

May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
may the clarity of light be yours,
may the fluency of the ocean be yours,
may the protection of the ancestors be yours.

And so may a slow
wind work these words
of love around you,
an invisible cloak
to mind your life.

 

My gunsteling  John O’ Donohue snoere:

“A day is precious because each day is essentially the microcosm of your whole life. Each new day offers possibilities and promises that were never seen before. To engage with honor the full possibility of your life is to engage in a worthy way the possibility of your new day. Each day is different.”

 
“Sometimes when a friendship is in trouble, it is not to be healed by endless analysis or counseling. You need to change the rhythm of seeing each other and come in contact again with the ancient belonging that brought you together. If you invoke its power and presence around you, this ancient affinity will hold you together. Two people who are really awakened inhabit the one circle of belonging. They have awakened a more ancient force around them that will hold them together and mind them.”

 
 
“There is a lantern in the soul, which makes your solitude luminous. Solitude need not remain lonely. It can awaken to its luminous warmth. The soul redeems and transfigures everything because the soul is the divine space. When you inhabit your solitude fully and experience its outer extremes of isolation and abandonment, you will find that at its heart there is neither loneliness nor emptiness but intimacy and shelter.”

 
“There is such an intimate connection between the way we look at things and what we actually discover. If you can learn to look at yourself and your life in a gentle, creative, and adventurous way, you will be eternally surprised at what you find.”

 
“A Blessing: May the light of your soul guide you. May the light of your soul bless the work you do with the secret love and warmth of your heart. May you see in what you do the beauty of your own soul. May the sacredness of your work bring healing, light, and renewal to those who work with you and to those who see and receive your work. May your work never weary you. May it release within you wellsprings of refreshment, inspiration, and excitement. May you be present in what you do. May you never become lost in the bland absences. May the day never burden. May dawn find you awake and alert, approaching your new day with dreams, possibilities, and promises. May evening find you gracious and fulfilled. May you go into the night blessed, sheltered, and protected. May your soul calm, console, and renew you.”

 
“The false burdens fall away. We come into rhythm with ourselves. Our clay shape gradually learns to walk beautifully on this magnificent earth. ”

 
“Real friendship or love is not manufactured or achieved by an act of will or intention. Friendship is always an act of recognition. This metaphor of friendship can be grounded in the clay nature of the human body. When you find the person you love, an act of ancient recognition brings you together. It is as if millions of years before the silence of nature broke, your lover’s clay and your clay lay side by side. Then in the turning of the seasons, your one clay divided and separated. You began to rise as distinct clay forms, each housing a different individuality and destiny. Without even knowing it, your secret memory mourned your loss of each other. While your clay selves wandered for thousands of years through the universe, your longing for each other never faded. This metaphor helps to explain how in the moment of friendship two souls suddenly recognize each other. It could be a meeting on the street, or at a party or a lecture, or just a simple, banal introduction, then suddenly there is the flash of recognition and the embers of kinship glow. There is an awakening between you, a sense of ancient knowing. Love opens the door of ancient recognition. You enter. You come home to each other at last. As Euripides said, “Two friends, one soul.”
 
“May all that is unlived in you blossom into a future graced with love.”
 
“You are as young as you feel. If you begin to feel the warmth of your soul, there will be a youthfulness in you that no one will be able to take away from you.”

 
Jy kan die besondere Keltiese geestelike hier leer ken: